, 1887-12-24
ANTIQUES MADE TO ORDER.
A New York Studio Where Relics of
oIden Art Arc Manufactured.

l DNAAY - hAt ~ OIloLC lIAACo
tools innumerable, a large vat of earth
cnware, work benches and a few mod
ern canebotton chairs-these and a cor
of other objects obtruded themselves
simultaneously upon the visitor.
Huddled together in one corner, near
n small lathe, such as jewellers use, lay
an incongruous heap of bronze figures of
men and animals, all more or less bro
ken. They were cheap, gimcrack af-
fairs such as n can buy brand new for
n few dollars in any furniture store.
Where do you get them?' l inquired
of my host-we were on the best of
terms.
eat the junk dealers for the price of
the old metal, " he answered. 1.-THE bet
ter ones-of real bronze-I pick up at
auctions, or at least my son does. None
of that lot over there cost more than
$1.75."
1 gasped and let my eyes wander fur
Their until they rested on a deal table be-
tween the two windows. Above it was
a gas bracket connected by rubber tubing
with a small iron standard, such as
chemists use. Near this, on the table,
lay two blowpipes, with platinum tips
and several long pronged pinchers. Di-
rectly behind these stood a large paste
DOiiu " pIlIllIul VI DlLS VI RltSS anu
empty homeopathic medicine bottles. My
host smiled as he caught the puzzled
look which stole over my face.
at is out of that stuff we make those
Etruscan iridescent tear walls you see in
museums, " he remarked, while his small
eyes twinkled gleefully. "At least my
daughter makes them. 1t is easy work.
Wait a minute and III show you how it
is done, and with that he lighted the gas
at the nozzle of the standard. l watched
him curiously.
He took a pinchers and inserted one of
its long jaws into a medicine bottle from
the collection. This done, he twirled it
gently over the gas for half a minute.
sit must heat gradually or it will
crack, " he said in explanation. Next,
placing a ~blowpipe to his lips, he blew a
steady flame against the glass until it
glowed with roseate fire and began to
fuse. A portion of its surface caved in;
he turned it over, blowing all the while,
until the vial lost all its symmetry and
presented four irregular sides, each in
denied. Then, quick as q flash, he threw
the molten fragment into a panof reddish
powder, INT rolled it and twisted it
about with his pinchers. THAT is me-
tallic oxide of "copper"" he explained, as
he picked the vial out and started blow
ing. Again the glass began to fuse, and
the antiquity maker, with n second pair
of pinchers, drew what had once been
the bottom of the vial out into a cone
shaped point. A fine rasp was passed
over the entire surface, after which the
glowing vial was whislied through a pan
of powdered rosin. 1t was next dipped
into gold powder, silver powder and
| woo. L. E-I
then the mouth of the unacceptable
bottle was crimped into little scollops
with n wire instrument resembling u
miniature crimping tongs.
The metamorphosis was completed An
ordinary medicine bottle had been changed
into a beautiful, iridescent tear vial be-
fore my very eyes.
There, " t~riumphantly exclaimed the
antiquity maker as he stuck the tear vial
into n perforated pasteboard stand to cool,
81 buy those little bottles for ten cents n
dozen and 1 can sell that tear vial easily
for Sc. That is / can sell it for that if
anybody wants it, but there is not n
steady demand for tear walls" BY this
time my brain was busy with a new
problem.
What doyou do with all those broken
fles?" l inquired, pointing to n good
sized chest half filled with them.
"Old files make the very best of STEEL"
replied the magician of the workshop.
II melt them and hammer them out to
make the blades of Venetian daggers.
Look, l have a portable forge in here"
and SO saying he opeLed the door into n
smaller room. sure enough there stood
n tiny forge, and beside it a work bench
Uttered with tools. Among them lay a
quaint female figure. 1 picked it up. 1t
was silver and quite heavy.
THAT is the hilt of a dagger" my host
exclaimed. sit is not pure silver; the
inside is lead. Yes, it looks very ancient,
but 1 cast it myself only the day before
yesterday. What makes its surface SO
worn and rough? L sprinkled it with
nitric acid out of this little stone flask,
and then washed it off quickly. Here is
n finished dagger. What do you think
of it?''
1t was n magnificent weapon, and 1
said so, at the same time expressing sur
prise at the gold fligree imbedded in the
blu steel blade. II thought the secret
of that sort of work persisted with the
swordmakers of Damascus" said /.
Wolters gave no information on that
subject, but pointed to a row of statuettes
iliN lit u nv dDONO IL tdi
There they stood, gods, goddesses and
demigods, nymphs, satyrs, dryads, naiads
and nereids, all antique, all more or less
green with verdigris, and all more or less
d~ilapidated. A one armed Apollo was
there; a Mercury, minus his caduceus; a
lnpsided JsInof n Jupiter grasping n
broken thunderbolt, and a Bacchante
raising a broken goblet to her laughing
lips. Had they been what they purported
to be 5000 would nave been little
enough TO pay for the collection.
''You would not think to look at
Them" said the old German, with the
honest pride of a craftsman, THAT every
N of them came from that junk heap
which you saw in the other ROOM"
BIT by bit, during subsequent visits, l
extracted from him the details of that
mysterious alchemy by which he trans
mittcd Il hideous, modern imitation into
~ Old Greek masterpiece. 1t is easy
cnonrh when one knows how to do it
DIctys Dane in New York Star.
Mrs. Swisshelm's Lost Type.
Some highly respected citizens of st.